In general, there are two methods to file paginated and non-paginated publications; both publication types are information-containing vessels which are found in the home and/or office and lend themselves to being utilized as a personal library of current reference material capable of being accessed at any given moment. One method is to insert the publications, each in their own file folder, placing the file folders juxtaposed in file drawers. The other method is to individually place them juxtaposed in a storage receptacle which may be a floor container or shelf file system.
Although both the file folder system for file drawers and shelf files have been accepted practice for home and office use, limitations exist when attempting to re-locate or inventory voluminous publications stored collectively in series, regardless of their binding type, especially upon actuated demand. Typically perfect bound periodicals are stored with their binding facing outward toward the asile whereby information is printed usually along the elongated spine; saddle-stitched publications by mechanical stitched design do not provide for such planar area to imprint such information, require the user to randomly pull each issue from the shelf file to read the pertinent issue information located on the outside front cover panel. Due to machining design, the perfect bound (glued spine) and saddle-stitched spine are incompatable when stored collectively in a storage receptacle. It is highly unlikely that most homes or offices which save particular publication issues would separate and distinguish one binding type from another, to ease in later retrieval thereof; such as the type of organized filing receptacles (shelf or drawer) a library or institution would provide.
Further, should a file drawer method be used, the consumer is expected to purchase or obtain a file folder first prior to the publication insertion therein; the file folder being the common vehicle to "create" compatability among both perfect bound and saddle-stitched publications which are generally of standard length and width dimensions (usually less than the physical size of the receiving file folder itself). As for compact disc-containers, stamp and coin collection albums and other non-paginated publications they are typically stored uniformily with the imprinted binding spines on shelf files, facing the asile, as well. The ability to re-locate and inventory these paginated and non-paginated publications using index-markers using serially machine coded and readable indicia is key in this specification permitting rapid retrieval and access of specific publications desired upon demand using this process.
In storage filing of publications having both perfect bindings and saddle-stitched bindings, there is a difficency to distinguish one issue from another in such a mixed arrangement since there are no "end tabs" or "side tabs" which would provide such distinguishment when the publications are stored juxtaposed in file (without being inserted into a file folder jacket). Commonly the paginated publications are positioned in storage with the fore-edge (the edge opposite the spine) facing the user thus protecting the publication cover from detachment yet, however, creating the problem of individual publication indentification. Regardless if such a collective mix of publications were filed with their unlike bindings exposed the problem of relocating and easily inventorying such saved publications in storage when the demand arises is still a manual, time-consuming task.
There are two principal readable systems or types of coding for re-location of publication information. These are by (a) the employment of visually readable graphics/character recognition such as numeric, alphabetic, alpha-numeric, color-coding and/or combination thereof; and (b) machine readable graphics or character recognition as in bar-codes, magnetic inks, electroconductive inks, etc.
Computers are being utilized for access, retrieval and inventory control of the information and its physical whereabouts which are recorded and stored in computer memory. This is presently accomplished by laser wand entry, key board entry, of the file reference numbers and their associative machine readable code indicia with corresponding visually readable reference coding, thus providing a cross-reference capability in the course of information retrieval. Other manual systems are time consuming and less efficient for the researcher of the required information, which may provide extensive problems to the individual to relocated "mixed" publications stored in a file receptacle or receptacles over a period of months or years. This lack of time and inability to relocate the desired information may truly discourage the researcher and the information hunt may well prove to be worthless; therefore the information stored in the valuable publications is likely to be discarded early before its useful life has been exhausted.
Typically paginated publications such as periodicals, books, etc. include a table of contents, index page of subject matter or advertisers or feature an outside cover index with page numbers of feature articles with the issue. It is unique, however, to utilize with a publication or use provided by a publication, machine readable indicia indexing-markers in a series to a publication or in series for the system of filing providing rapid re-location, inventory control and immediate access of the desired publication as needed by the user, as applicant describes in co-pending U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. (C-I-P) 388,319 filed July 31, 1989, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,189 issued Apr. 30, 1991, and 504,912 filed Mar. 30, 1990, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,824 issued Oct. 15, 1991.
Canadian Patent 925,764 shows a label for a file folder flap. This label is one-sided and has printed thereon a name and two color coded areas which are representative of the first two initials of the surname. However, no consideration is given in that patent to the machine reading of information set out on the label and using such machine read information to (a) regulating by identifying a publication through such machine reading step the input directing serially index-markers to specific predetermined placement on such respective publication's border margin; (b) controlling from such reading step a user's application of sequential selected marker members, as adheringly applied, to the publication's border margin adjeacent the respective edge thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,363 discloses various types of bar code, magnetic ink character recognition and optical character recognition printing used on cheques and the like. The particulars of the coded information may be read from the cheque; however, this is no discussion about using read information from one or more apparatus marker members (which may be separably removable from the parent publication) adheringly affixed thereto a respective publication in selected paginated series and in series for a filing system; the series of indexing-markers being machine read by such machine readable indicia thereon for the purpose of inventory maintenance and re-location and retrieval of specific articles and the physical publications for the system.
The process, according to the present invention, overcomes a number of the above problems to provide an indexing-markers system of labelling consisting of marker members which may be conveniently removable from a publication by a user-consumer which not only permits identification within a publication and ease in re-location of specific information within a respective publication, but also permits machine reading of information from one or both faces of the double-faced apparatus marker members. In this reading of the index-marker's readable information, a computer may be programmed with assigned machine readable indicia to each marker member or face thereof, in accordance with data input of the read information, to read and/or apply subsequent machine readable information to each sub-field of each selected apparatus marker member before, during or after such indexing-markers adherence to the border margin of its respective publication. U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,639 discloses the use of additional labels applied to a file folder being of the color coded type to provide all the attendant advantages thereof. The same patentee, Barber, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,191 defines a process for labelling a system of file folders which comprises printing a set of indicia in a single field on one face of a pressure sensitive permanent label, where the indicia is both machine and visually readable and a mechanical labeller is programmable to control the application of labels to the same file folder by the input from such machine reading step in application of individual color coded labels to the file folder flap, where each color-code represents one label as applied, has an indicium corresponding to one of the machine read indicia. Further, Barber's U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,815 discloses a composite strip for the subsequent application of a discret series of labels applied to such composite strip before its application to the edge of the substrate; the composite strip advantageously used in combination with a tab extension to provide an add-on assembly. Barber shows limitations in the above cited disclosures mentioned which specifically define the application of labels, each with a single color-code, for alphabetically labelling specifically file folders, namely. However, there is no discussion about using read information to regulate by identifying input directing an indexing marker's application to specific predetermined placement in series on a respective publication's selected border margins, controlling from such reading step a user's application of sequentially selected marker members for inventory maintenance purposes including re-location and retrieval of information contained within various types of publication information-containing vessels of which file folders are excluded from the defined claims herein and from the target category of articles named--publications. The present invention further provides an indexing system which is compatable to both file drawer system and shelf file storage receptacles; by comparison, Barber, is only concerned with a labelling system for "shelf file folders" of which his patented specifications restrict, respectively.